scholarly journals Shape and Volumetric Differences in the Corpus Callosum between Patients with Major Depressive Disorder and Healthy Controls

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (9) ◽  
pp. 941-950
Author(s):  
Sekwang Lee ◽  
Sung-Bom Pyun ◽  
Kwan Woo Choi ◽  
Woo-Suk Tae

Objective This study aimed to investigate the morphometric differences in the corpus callosum between patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls and analyze their relationship to gray matter changes.Methods Twenty female MDD patients and 21 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the study. To identify the difference in the regional gray matter concentration (GMC), VBM was performed with T1 magnetic resonance imaging. The shape analysis of the corpus callosum was processed. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber-tracking was performed to identify the regional tract pathways in the damaged corpus callosal areas.Results In the shape analysis, regional shape contractions in the rostrum and splenium were found in the MDD patients. VBM analysis showed a significantly lower white matter concentration in the genu and splenium, and a significantly lower GMC in the frontal, limbic, insular, and temporal regions of the MDD patients compared to the HCs. In DTI fiber-tracking, the fibers crossing the damaged areas of the genu, rostrum, and splenium were anatomically connected to the areas of lower GMC in MDD patients.Conclusion These findings support that major depressive disorder may be due to disturbances in multiple neuronal circuits, especially those associated with the corpus callosum.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Salvetat ◽  
Fabrice Chimienti ◽  
Christopher Cayzac ◽  
Benjamin Dubuc ◽  
Francisco Checa-Robles ◽  
...  

AbstractMental health issues, including major depressive disorder, which can lead to suicidal behavior, are considered by the World Health Organization as a major threat to global health. Alterations in neurotransmitter signaling, e.g., serotonin and glutamate, or inflammatory response have been linked to both MDD and suicide. Phosphodiesterase 8A (PDE8A) gene expression is significantly decreased in the temporal cortex of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. PDE8A specifically hydrolyzes adenosine 3′,5′-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), which is a key second messenger involved in inflammation, cognition, and chronic antidepressant treatment. Moreover, alterations of RNA editing in PDE8A mRNA has been described in the brain of depressed suicide decedents. Here, we investigated PDE8A A-to-I RNA editing-related modifications in whole blood of depressed patients and suicide attempters compared to age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls. We report significant alterations of RNA editing of PDE8A in the blood of depressed patients and suicide attempters with major depression, for which the suicide attempt took place during the last month before sample collection. The reported RNA editing modifications in whole blood were similar to the changes observed in the brain of suicide decedents. Furthermore, analysis and combinations of different edited isoforms allowed us to discriminate between suicide attempters and control groups. Altogether, our results identify PDE8A as an immune response-related marker whose RNA editing modifications translate from brain to blood, suggesting that monitoring RNA editing in PDE8A in blood samples could help to evaluate depressive state and suicide risk.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
V. H. Dam ◽  
D. S. Stenbæk ◽  
K. Köhler-Forsberg ◽  
C. Ip ◽  
B. Ozenne ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Cognitive disturbances are common and disabling features of major depressive disorder (MDD). Previous studies provide limited insight into the co-occurrence of hot (emotion-dependent) and cold (emotion-independent) cognitive disturbances in MDD. Therefore, we here map both hot and cold cognition in depressed patients compared to healthy individuals. Methods We collected neuropsychological data from 92 antidepressant-free MDD patients and 103 healthy controls. All participants completed a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery assessing hot cognition including emotion processing, affective verbal memory and social cognition as well as cold cognition including verbal and working memory and reaction time. Results The depressed patients showed small to moderate negative affective biases on emotion processing outcomes, moderate increases in ratings of guilt and shame and moderate deficits in verbal and working memory as well as moderately slowed reaction time compared to healthy controls. We observed no correlations between individual cognitive tasks and depression severity in the depressed patients. Lastly, an exploratory cluster analysis suggested the presence of three cognitive profiles in MDD: one characterised predominantly by disturbed hot cognitive functions, one characterised predominantly by disturbed cold cognitive functions and one characterised by global impairment across all cognitive domains. Notably, the three cognitive profiles differed in depression severity. Conclusion We identified a pattern of small to moderate disturbances in both hot and cold cognition in MDD. While none of the individual cognitive outcomes mapped onto depression severity, cognitive profile clusters did. Overall cognition-based stratification tools may be useful in precision medicine approaches to MDD.


2019 ◽  
Vol 251 ◽  
pp. 78-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huifeng Zhang ◽  
Meihui Qiu ◽  
Lei Ding ◽  
David Mellor ◽  
Gang Li ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuk-In Jang ◽  
Chany Lee ◽  
Sangmin Lee ◽  
Seung Huh ◽  
Jeong-Ho Chae

Abstract Background: Electroencephalography (EEG) frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) has been observed in several psychiatric disorders. Dominance in left or right frontal alpha activity remains inconsistent in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), patients with schizophrenia, and healthy controls. This study compared FAA among patients with MDD and schizophrenia, and healthy controls.Methods: We recruited 20 patients with MDD, 18 patients with schizophrenia, and 16 healthy individuals. The EEG alpha frequency ranged from 8 Hz to 12 Hz. FAA was expressed as the difference between absolute power values of right and left hemisphere electrodes in the alpha frequency range (common-log-transformed frontal right- and left-hemisphere electrodes: F4–F3, F8–F7, FP2–FP1, AF4–AF3, F6–F5, and F2–F1). Hamilton depression and anxiety rating scales were evaluated in patients with MDD. Positive and negative syndrome scales were evaluated in patients with schizophrenia.Results: Patients with schizophrenia showed significantly lower left FAA than healthy controls (F4–F3, schizophrenia vs. healthy controls: -0.10 ± 0.04 vs. -0.05 ± 0.05). There were no significant differences in FAA between patients with schizophrenia and MDD as well as between patients with MDD and healthy controls.Conclusions: The present study suggests that FAA indicates a relatively lower activation of left frontal electrodes in schizophrenia. The left-lateralized FAA could be a neuropathological attribute in patients with schizophrenia, but a lack of sample size and information such as medication and duration of illness might obscure the interpretation and generalization of our findings. Thus, further studies to verify the findings would be warranted.


2004 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Frodl ◽  
Eva M. Meisenzahl ◽  
Thomas Zetzsche ◽  
Tom Höhne ◽  
Sandra Banac ◽  
...  

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